(Recording The Police is a Dangerous but Necessary Thing to Do) If You See Something, Film Something
Permalink | Posted on Thursday February 09 2012 from our pigs department.A two-part video discussing the need to videotape police in public. Becoming more important everyday.
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China cut off internet in area of Tibetan unrest
Permalink | Posted on Saturday February 04 2012 from our liberty department.Blocking communications in areas of social unrest appears to be becoming Standard Operating Procedure in many authoritarian countries. Similar to Egypt, Libya, and other countries involved in democracy movements this past year, dictators have realized the value of controlling the flow of information as a way of maintaining power.
This trend underscores an important fact about unrest and social change in the coming years - it will be a battle of information. The ability to understand, interpret, and manipulate information better than an opponent will be a defining factor in any struggle.
Also similar to other Middle-Eastern countries, the Chinese government has reacted in a way which, above all, seeks to skew the information about their victims the Tibetans.
Their official line? "Officials say security forces fired in self-defence after mobs of rioters attacked police and official buildings in the south-western province of Sichuan, resulting in two deaths."
This explanation, the internet blockage, and the banning of foreign journalists all demonstrate how much importance the Chinese government places in controlling the narrative on the situation.
This type of problem also demonstrates the importance of decentralized, ad-hoc networks for use by activists.
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India Factory Workers Revolt, Kill Company President
Permalink | Posted on Sunday January 29 2012 from our liberty department.Twitter to censor content in some countries
Permalink | Posted on Friday January 27 2012 from our internet department."As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression," Twitter wrote in a blog post.
Twitter has publicly admitted they will begin censoring content in certain countries in order to comply with governmental restrictions. In doing so, they join a growing list of tech companies willing to sacrifice ethics for the almighty dollar. (Forgetting that the open nature of the web is the very reason for their success)
By helping countries to censor content from their citizens, Twitter is no better than the dictators they're serving. After-all, there is no difference between complying with authoritarianism and implementing it in the first place. It might not be long before Twitter's logs are shared with oppressive countries, leading to deadly real-world consequences.
Twitter must be confused. There are no contours to freedom of expression - it either exists or it doesn't.
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Hawaii may keep track of all Web sites visited
Permalink | Posted on Thursday January 26 2012 from our internet department."H.B. 2288 which was introduced Friday, says the dossiers must include a list of Internet Protocol addresses and domain names visited. Democratic Rep. John Mizuno of Oahu is the lead sponsor; Mizuno also introduced H.B. 2287, a computer crime bill, at the same time last week. The measure says "Internet destination history information" and "subscriber's information" such as name and address must be saved for two years."
This bill bears many similarities to the others we've seen during 2011. Whether it will pass is doubtful. However it is a good example of both sides of the aisle being willing to expand state surveillance.
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